Beijing and Lyons
Sir: Geoffrey Wheatcroft (Diary, 11 Au- gust) objects to the Chinese capital being known in the West as Beijing. At the risk of a charge of didacticism, may I point out that the Pinyin romanisation is not really 'a faddish new system of transliteration' but has been in use since the 1950s. It is not only the official system of romanisation in mainland China but the one now generally employed in Chinese language teaching.
Your Diarist's stance reminds me of the broadcaster (I think it might have been Marghanita Laski) who liked to call France's second city 'Lions', as in lion's den'. An old teacher of mine insisted that M. Mollet, a French politician we heard about in the 1950s, should be known in England as 'Mr Mullet', as in 'grey mullet'. Does Geoffrey. Wheatcroft belong to this school?
P. G. Brierley 28 Collingham Gardens, -London SW5
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